1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) telecommunications system, and more particularly to a method of and an apparatus for tracing virtual path operation information using control monitoring OAM cells.
2. Description of the Prior Art
While no specific method of tracing virtual path operation information in an ATM communications system has been established in the art, one such method using OAM cells (operation and maintenance control data frames) has been proposed by Haruhiko Matsunaga, et al. at the Autumn Conference of the Electronic Information Communication Society, 1991. According to the proposed method, an OAM center instructs a specified station to send an OAM cell for tracing virtual path operation information, and the instructed station generates an OAM cell and sends the OAM cell to a designated destination station through the next station on a selected path to the destination station. Each station on the path which received the OAM cell records its own ID number in the OAM cell, and transfers the OAM cell to the next station. Until the OAM cell reaches the destination station, the stations that receive the OAM cell successively record their ID numbers in the OAM cell. When the destination station receives the OAM cell and records its own ID number in the OAM cell, it delivers the OAM cell to the OAM center, which totalizes the result of virtual path tracing.